Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Friendship and loyalty in the kite runner
Essays on gender in the kite runner
How does amir in kite runner develop as a character
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Friendship and loyalty in the kite runner
Betrayal among Friends It takes desire, guilt, and shame to abandon a relationship like Amir’s and Hassan’s. In Khaled, Hosseini. The Kite Runner he demonstrates the theme of betrayal by Amir’s actions towards Hassan after Hassan being a victim of rape. Growing up as childhood friends in the town of Kabul, Hassan and Amir had unforgettable scenarios of their loving friendship. When they were children, both boys would enjoy different forms of disastrous fun. Being twelve years old they would climb a tree in Amir’s driveway and reflect sunlight to their neighbor’s home to annoy them. Amir had brilliant ideas; one of them was Hassan throwing walnuts with his slingshot to the neighbor’s dog. Hassan never wanted to but he was a mastermind when it came to owning a slingshot. Hassan and the slingshot had a mind and movement of their own. …show more content…
When getting caught in their actions Hassan would be the one to always take the blame for Amir’s ideas.
Hassan and Amir were not just best friends; they were brothers. Both their mothers have vanished from their lives but they both thought they had different fathers. In this case it wasn’t true. Amir’s father, Bubba, had been with a servant; and Hassan was born. Both boys had a lot in common. Amir’s mom had died giving birth to him, while Hassan’s mother ran away less than a week after being born. They depended on their fathers care for them. It was the year 1975, the best time of the year; winter. The boys all over Kabul would enjoy flying their kites. Amir is very nervous but Hassan tell him to keep going and encourages Amir to continue to fly the kite. Amir eventually wins the competition and carries his kite to Baba’s house. In kite running the second kite is considered the greatest prize. Hassan goes and tries to look for that kite. While Amir is looking for Hassan, Hassan is in an ally surrounded by Assef and his friends. Amir watches hopelessly and terrified for his life that he just runs
away. Ever since then Amir’s and Hassan’s close relationship became nothing but an old memory. Amir treats Hassan as a servant and not a friend. He feels such guilt not doing anything about the rape that Amir can’t sleep at night. Amir’s attitude towards Hassan is cold. He hit’s Hassan with a pomegranate and hoping that he hit’s him back with it; just so he can sleep at night. Unfortunately Hassan does nothing but smear the pomegranate on his forehead to demonstrate blood. Amir just calls him a coward and cries. “’You’re a coward!’ I said. ‘Nothing but a goddamn coward’” (Hosseini 92) Amir sees Hassan as nothing. He no longer wants to feel the guilt when he sees Hassan so Amir sets him up. Amir grabs some of his birthday money and a watch that he was given under Hassan’s bed and tells Baba that Hassan is a thief. Baba’s worst sin is theft; but in this case he “forgives” Hassan for stealing Amir’s personal belongings, but Hassan and Ali move out and all they have been through is just a bittersweet feeling for Amir.
Amir is, to be put bluntly, a coward. He is led by his unstable emotions towards what he thinks will plug his emotional holes and steps over his friends and family in the process. When he sought after Baba’s invisible love, Amir allowed Hassan to be raped in an alleyway just so that the blue kite, his trophy that would win his father’s heart, could be left untouched. In the end, he felt empty and unfulfilled with the weight of his conscience on his shoulders comparable to Atlas’ burden. Unable to get over his fruitless betrayal, he lashes out and throws pomegranates at Hassan before stuffing money and a watch under his loyal friend’s pathetic excuse for a bed, framing Hassan for theft and directly causing the departure of both servants from his household. Even after moving to America, finding a loving wife, and creating a career for himself in writing, he still feels hollow when thinking of his childhood in Afghanistan. Many years later, he is alerted of Hassan’s death and sets out on a frenzied chase to find his friend’s orphaned son. He feels that he can somehow ease his regrets from all of those years ago if he takes in Hassan’s son, Sohrab. He finds Sohrab as a child sex slave for Assef, who coincidentally was the one to rape Hassan all of those years ago. After nearly dying in his attempt to take back Sohrab, he learns that he can take the damaged child back to the states with him. Sadly, Hassan’s son is so
Firstly, one’s identity is largely influenced by the dynamics of one’s relationship with their father throughout their childhood. These dynamics are often established through the various experiences that one shares with a father while growing up. In The Glass Castle and The Kite Runner, Jeannette and Amir have very different relationships with their fathers as children. However the experiences they share with these men undou...
In the book “THe Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, betrayal is is one of the big themes that occurs in this book. Amir shows the most betrayal of all, like him witnessing Hassan's rape and not helping him at all. That was his cowardly thing that he did and experiences guilt from it. Many years pass since that event he starts to feel what other people felt when he would betray them, like when he was betrayed by his father and Rahim Khan, because he found out that Hassan was his brother and he felt betrayal of trust just as he made the people he betrayed feel.
The Kite Runner is a novel of a Sunni Muslim, Amir, and a Hazara boy, Hassan. Hassan is the son of Amir’s father’s servant. Amir and Hassan spend their childhood days playing with one another in the streets of Kabul. Amir’s father, Baba, as referred to in the novel, loves both of the boys equally. Although, Amir believes that Baba loves Hassan more than himself. Amir struggles to find understanding from Baba for killing his wife during childbirth. Amir strives to make him proud. The Hazara boy, Hassan, finds himself often in trouble protecting Amir, and questioning whether Amir would do the same for him. Over twenty years after Amir left Kabul, and his childhood friend, Hassan, Amir returns to Kabul to find his brother dead by the Taliban, and his son residing in a local orphanage. Amir ventures on to find a way to be good again, while trying to save his childhood friend, Hassan’s son. The motif changes to show how their relationship is growing and evolving thus helping Hosseini, the author of, The Kite Runner, develop his theme in the novel. Friendship does not require physical connection.. The Pomegranate tree is used as a motif and changes throughout the novel. Amir often returns to the motif of the Pomegranate tree. In the beginning of The Kite Runner, Amir and Hassan’s friendship is flourishing as they share stories and laugh by the pomegranate tree. Hassan and Amir bond over stories such as, “Shahnameh,” (Hosseini, pg. 103). As the novel continues, Amir throws pomegranates from the tree at Hassan, breaking the physical relationship between himself and Hassan. At the end of the novel, Amir returns to find the tree dead, and their physical relationship is gone, but they both think of themselves as friends.
The theme of loyalty is widespread throughout "The Kite Runner". Hassan is a very loyal character in this story, he is loyal to his brother Amir this is demonstrated from the start he tells Amir “for you a thousand times over” often to mean he would do anything for Amir when the situation calls for it. Amir on the other hand is jealous and feels entitled to his father’s love and care, he does not understand Baba’s love for Ali and Hassan and as such he does everything to discredit Hassan and put himself on better grounds with his father. Hassan’s loyalty is juxtaposed with Amir’s betrayal, for in every act of kindness demonstrated by Hassan he receives and equal or greater amounts of betrayal from Amir. Nonetheless Hassan remains
Amir tells us that "The kite-fighting tournament was an old winter tradition in Afghanistan”. Although the Taliban do away with kite racing, at the end of book, we see that this tradition has been preserved within the Afghan community in America, and that it is this tradition. The author makes use of the kite-fighting as a nostalgic factor, a way to connect amir and his father and many other things. He makes use of this versatile entity as a common denominator for many peoples.
At the beginning of The Kite Runner, young Amir wins a kite fighting tournament. He feels like he has finally redeemed himself for his father. However, Amir’s happy day turns dark, when an hour later, he witnesses Hassan, his best friend, raped in an alley. He had “one final opportunity to decide who [he] was going to be. (77) Instead of standing up for his friend and...
Furthermore, due to his sense of pride and honour, he also becomes torn between Amir, who was the socially legitimate half and Hassan, the illegitimate half. He is a “tortured soul”, as he could not love Hassan openly and therefore neglects Amir of the affection and fatherly connection Amir is yearning for. Ironically, during Amir’s childhood, he tells him that, “there is only one sin”. And that is theft. When you lie you steal someone’s right to the truth,” (Hosseini, 237).
Amir’s father claims the worst sin is stealing. He always says that when someone lies, they steal someone’s right to the truth. Knowing this, Baba has committed the worst act of sin and betrayal in the entire story. When Amir goes back to Afghanistan as a grown man, to visit Rahim Kahn, he learns that Hassan is his half-brother; his father had been their father all along. He went back to his home country to redeem and find forgiveness for himself, but now he is faced with also redeeming his fathers’ sins. His whole childhood was spent believing that Hassan was only his servant, barely letting himself believe that he was a friend, and now he has to find out that his father lied to him and that this boy was his brother. Amir is now not only on a journey for himself, but for his dad, and Hassan, determined to prove that he “can be good again” (2).
As a foreword, the story of The Kite Runner focuses on a man named Amir. In his childhood, he enjoyed a high-class life in Kabul, Afghanistan, living with his father Baba. They have two servants, Ali and his son Hassan. They are Hazaras, a lower class ethnic minority in Afghanistan. In one Winter of their childhood, Amir and Hassan participate in a kite-fighting tournament; the goal is to be the last kite flying. When a kite is cut, boys chase after it as a trophy. Amir wins the tournament, and Hassan flies to catch the losing kite. Later, following Hassan's path, Amir comes upon a neighbourhood bully named Assef about to rape Hassan who has the trophy, the blue kite. Amir does not interject, believing this will secure him the kite. Thus, Amir sets forth a chain of events he must redeem in his adulthood.
Through relationships, individuals connect in different ways to overcome challenges and support one another. The sacrifices, lies and love strengthen their bonds. Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner displays the tensions that arise between families and friends. The image of tug of war can act as a metaphor for Amir and Baba’s relationship because it is a struggle between two people that are bonded by a rope to win control of something. The image represents Amir and Baba’s relationship because of their contrasting interests, Baba thinks Amir does not possess leadership qualities and Amir has to prove himself to Baba at the kite tournament.
The hardships that life reveals can either affect a person in a negative or positive way. They can strengthen or weaken the development of one’s character. Khaled Hosseni’s The Kite Runner is a novel that tells the story of two boys – Amir and Hassan, his childhood friend and servant– who spend their lives attempting to overcome their obstacles. These obstacles create experiences that will shape them for the rest of their lives. Firstly, Hassan and Amir share similar hardships, however Hassan learns and grows from them, and Amir lingers over the negativity, allowing it to destroy his life instead of moving forward. Secondly, Amir is always rescued, which allows him to feel a sense of entitlement, while Hassan fights his own battles, resulting in a greater amount of inner strength. Lastly, as Amir and Hassan become adults in opposite ends of the world, they battle hardships that are very different. The differences within their adulthood continue to show who is the more honourable character. Ultimately, in Khaled Hosseni's The Kite Runner, Hassan is a stronger character than Amir, despite the fact that they both battle similar hardships.
The Kite Runner focuses on the relationship between two Afghan boys Amir and Hassan. Amir is a Pashtun and Sunni Muslim, while Hassan is a Hazara and a Shi’a. Despite their ethnic and religious differences, Amir and Hassan grow to be friends, although Amir is troubled by Hassan, and his relationship with his companion, one year his junior, is complex. Amir and Hassan seem to have a "best friend" type relationship. The two boys, Hassan and Amir, are main characters in the book titled, The Kite Runner. The two boys have a relationship that is significantly different compared to most. There are many different facets that distinguish the relationship the boys possess. The boys do write their names in a pomegranate tree as the "sultans of Kabul" (Kite Runner 27) but, their friendship is not strong and it is one sided. Hassan has love for Amir. He loves him like a brother. Hassan is exceedingly loyal to Amir. The relationship between the two boys is emotionally wearing and rather gloomy for the most part. The main reason for their complicated relationship is the fact that Amir is Pashtun, and Hassan is Hazara. The Afghan society places Hassan lower than Amir. Hassan is Amir's servant. The placement of Hassan in the Afghan society disenables Amir from becoming Hassan's true friend. Amir sees Hassan as lower than human. Amir ruins the chance for friendship between himself and Hassan because he is jealous of Hassan, he thinks of Hassan as a lower human, and because Amir possesses such extreme guilt for what he has done to Hassan. Amir is an unforgivable person overall.
During The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini reinforces the theme of the loss of innocence and redemption. Many characters lose innocence or are the cause of another character losing theirs. Amir both loses his innocence and that of others. His innocence is stolen by his father. In the novel Amir overhears Baba saying, “‘If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son’” (Hosseini 24-25). This affects Amir for his entire life as he tries to compete with Hassan for his father's attention. He does not realize that in doing so, this crumbles his world as he knows it. It makes Amir resentful, calloused, and even cruel, all of which are characteristics of someone who has lost their innocence. In turn, Amir’s loss of innocence causes other to lose their innocence because of his lack of courage and disregard for others feelings.
Winter was every kid in Kabul favorite season as it meant no school for the icy season. It lasted for three months, in that time Amir would play cards with Hassan, build snowmen, and enjoy the free Russian movies on Tuesday mornings. Yet winter brought out the sport in Ami as he was a great kite fighter. Every winter districts in Kabul would hold kite-fighting tournaments. The goal if the tournament is to cut everyone else kites by breaking their glass string.